We have arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia. This landlocked country of 5 million people is bordered by Poland, Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Bratislava is its largest city and is about an hours drive from Vienna Austria, 2 hours from Budapest Hungary and 3 from Prague in the Czech Republic. It sits on the shores of the Danube River and is at the crossroads of Eastern Europe commerce and culture.

Slovakia had been a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 10th to the early 20th Century and then joined with its neighbor to form the country of Czechoslovakia in 1918. It was a beneficiary the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 that saw the fall of communism, and became the independent nation of the Slovak Republic as the result of a peaceful separation from the Czech Republic in 1993. Slovakia enjoys a very high standard of living and a very technicality advanced culture and economy.

We are guests for three days with Svetlana Rosinova, her husband Milan Rosina, and their 2 darling children. Svetlana is one of a number of people who still refer to us as “Mom and Dad” having been a part of our family as exchange students in the 1990’s. She spent the entire 1995-96 school year with us.

Milan is a communications and IT expert and Svetlana is a child psychologist. Their 11 year old daughter and 13 year old son are incredibly personable and polite, and speak fluent English, as do the parents. We last saw Svetlana 20 years ago in Prague and it is wonderful to see how she has succeeded in life. She and Milan are wonderful parents and partners. Their home is beautiful and charming by every standard imaginable. This has been a sweet and emotional reunion for us.

We look forward to seeing the countryside tomorrow and I am sure my camera will then get an appropriate workout!

Peace Everyone. Pete

Our last day in Brussels was spent with Bryony lazily wandering the old city squares and sampling small beers and treats at various cafes. The weather graced us with an exceptional opportunity to watch people and appreciate the architecture that dates to the early 1600’s.

The main Central Square is especially beautiful as the various multi-story buildings each once housed a craft guild… the union halls of the day. Each sought to display prominence. Among the Halls were those dedicated to bakers, brewers, weavers, shipwrights, and stone masons, just to name a few.

Belgium is known over the world for its incredible beers, delicious chocolates, lace, and tapestries. We had figured to do our part to alleviate any surplus of the first two categories, but it had not been our intention to entreat either of the latter categories… until we spied the tapestries!

We enjoy art. Indeed the walls of our home make that evident. Many years ago Christine and I were simultaneously captivated by a painting in a Wisconsin gallery. It was a stunning scene of evening mist on the waters of a north woods lake. In the foreground was a long abandoned rowboat that seemed to hold the memories of a now deceased angler and his child. The theme was even carried by the artist into the frame which he had made, and was a piece of art in its own right. The painting was an expensive original, but not beyond our means. To our regret we did not buy the piece. It has ever since been referred to between us as “The Painting”.

We were attracted to one of the tapestry shops and not being pressed to be anywhere or do anything in particular, we entered. There were many attractive pieces, but we had no intention of buying… until we saw not one, but two that conjured up the memory of “The Painting”. It took a mere glance between us to initiate the process of negotiating price and arranging shipping. We know precisely where each of these will hang in our great-room.

Afternoon arrived and the time came to express our gratitude and goodbyes to Bryony, but not before discussing a visit from her and her mother, Rosemary, to Kansas City. She was even included via a video chat. Perhaps next year? Time will tell.

I am writing this at 6am from the bed of our private cabin on the German “Night Jet” sleeper train to Vienna Austria. It is a first class accommodation that includes such niceties as complimentary wine, sweets, and breakfast served to us in the compartment. I am afraid that this wonderful means of travel is slowly disappearing in favor of the 300km per hour fast trains. We will enjoy it while we can.

At Vienna we will board an intercity service that will take us to Bratislava Slovakia where we will be met by our former exchange student “daughter”, Svetlana and her husband Milan. It has been 20 years since we last saw her. There will be much to talk about during the three days that we will be their guests.

Peace Everyone. Pete

I almost forgot to mention “The Manikin Pis”! For some reason that escapes me this diminutive statue of a little boy taking a pee has become an iconic symbol of Brussels. It was cast in the 1600’s and attracts throngs of tourists. Originally naked, the citizens of Brussels take great delight in dressing the little miscreant, yet he continues his endless stream of “urine”.

Kansas City has a similar statue, but it stands virtually unnoticed. Perhaps all that he needs is clothing.

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We were up early and out the door of our hotel to meet Bryony at the Brussels Central Station for a one hour train ride and a daytrip to Antwerp. Walking the streets of a beautiful city shorn of its usual crowds has its benefits.

Both the Brussels and the Antwerp Central Train Stations are huge “beehives” of activity. Their architecture oozes old world charm. In the case of Antwerp, as it became necessary to expand the number of tracks serving the city they merely expanded downward. Each level contains many train platforms providing service to national and international destinations. There are over 20 separate train platforms!

In the 10 weeks that we have now been traveling we have ridden over 20 separate train trips, not counting commuter subway trips. Not a single one of those trips have been off their published timetable… every one has departed and arrived precisely on time!

Antwerp is a busy seaport city that is known for its prominence in the diamond trade. We passed on shopping those venues in favor of strolling the harbor area, and ascending the MAS art museum building for a free panorama of the city.

We did not have time to actually visit the collection, but just walking about inside was entertaining. There were lifelike statues of a ship captain and female officer standing at the edge of one of the floors, and a well utilized study area.

The city vista was also entertaining as one building displayed a series of larger than life human figures climbing the walls.

Our intended destination was the Red Star Museum. This is a sister site to New York’s Ellis Island. Over a span of approximately 40 years from the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century, Ellis Island received over 12 million immigrants for processing into the United States. Over 2 million of those souls had departed from Antwerp. The Red Star Museum is named after the prominent ship line that transported many of those emigrants from Antwerp and is housed in the buildings that processed those folks.

The museum presents the stories of those people, both the prominent such as Albert Einstein, and the nameless.

Screening to standards set by US Immigration at the departure point was necessary as any passenger rejected in New York had to be returned to Europe at the ship company’s expense. In spite of the rigorous examination, 2% were still turned back in New York. Imagine the heart rending choice that parents had to make when one of their young children was rejected and they could either proceed without her or choose to keep the family intact and return to Europe. Most families chose to continue on as social, economic, and political conditions in their former countries provided no real option for returning. Societies were formed to care for those “orphaned” children in the “old country”, helping them to remain in contact with their families if such was possible.

Our day also included a wonderful harborside lunch, and then a late evening dinner at a French restaurant back in Brussels.

We depart Belgium tomorrow evening and will be aboard a night sleeper train. Our destination will be Bratislava Slovakia for 3 days with Svetlana Rosinova, her husband Milan Rosina and their children. Svetlana lived with us for a year as a high school exchange student in the 1990’s. This will be an exciting reunion!

Peace Everyone. Pete

We arrived today by train in Brussels Belgium and were greeted by Bryony Ulyett who we have not seen for 26 years! She will be our companion for the next two days, sharing the sights and culture of a country at the western crossroads of Europe. She and Christine appear below in front of the birthplace of actress Audrey Hepburn.

Belgium is officially bilingual (Dutch and French), and Brussels City is not only the nation’s capital and location of Belgium’s Royal Palace, but also the de facto capital of the European Union. It is believed that there are more ambassadors and journalists in this city of 1.2 million than in Washington DC.

We began savoring the local cuisine and exceptional beer with her this evening. The real tour begins tomorrow.

Travel of a significant duration will inevitably include times of problem solving. As detailed in an earlier post, we were caught in a rainstorm while in the Netherlands. Christine’s iPad became “toast”. She has coverage to replace it, but only with the same model. The Apple Store in Amsterdam did not have one in stock and it could take up to two weeks for one to arrive if ordered. Of course, we have left Amsterdam and are now in Brussels Belgium.

As luck would have it, the Apple Store in Brussels was a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Christine left me at a street side restaurant with permission to caress a Belgian Blond or two (it’s a style of beer) and continued on to Apple to tell them her tale of woe.

I understand the importance of the iPad to Chris. It contains her books, puzzles, provides email and video contact for her with the “little people”, and most of all provides her with a reprieve from the uninterrupted version of me. I get it. The Brussels store had ONE in stock!

While Christine was engaged for nearly two hours at the store with the task of transferring data and functionality to the new device one might imagine that I would have become either bored, inebriated, or both. Instead, It turned into one of the most pleasant and insightful 2 hours of this journey.

I sat solo under an umbrellaed sidewalk table. It had rained earlier in the day so the pavement was wet and there was a lingering mist in the air. This was a busy upscale urban shopping district so there was a constant flow of traffic and people. A stream of life passed me from left to right and right to left… male, female, caucasian, black, oriental, young, old, fit, disabled… those characteristics stood out, but what was impossible to discern was nationality.

I was “invisible” to those who passed my table. I had become part of the wallpaper of that street scene. When I sought to make eye contact folks appeared to look right through me. The rare exceptions were a very old woman who met my gaze with a broad smile, and a few youngsters who looked at me with a mixture of wonder and curiosity. It was an extraordinary experience.

I found myself wondering. My literacy is limited to English and stands in stark contrast to the common command of at least two, or three languages by these pedestrians. Christine was availing herself of services in a “foreign country” with the same seamless ease that she would expect in Kansas City. Our sojourn will tally visits to 17 countries yet involves only 6 different currencies. Our Eurail Pass is a magic carpet of travel recognized by 28 countries. Our T-Mobile phone plan allows us virtually the same telephone and data access that we enjoy stateside, but extended to over 140 countries. We see familiar products and brands in virtually every store. I could go on…

What could any thinking nation ever expect to gain by succumbing to the siren song of xenophobia and isolationism. What insecurity drives those voices. Certainly, the forces of innovation that have conferred stardom upon a nation on the world stage sing an entirely different song.

Peace Everyone. Pete

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I am writing this on May 31st. We have concluded 2 very nice days with our friend from the 2013 Camino, Jacobien Ubbink and members of her family. It was really nice to be guests in her home and have the opportunity to reconnect in depth. We spent yesterday with her touring the Rijksmuseum and wandering amid the canals and byways of Amsterdam’s Old City.

The Rijksmuseum of Dutch Art and History has been located In Amsterdam since 1808. It houses a phenomenal collection of priceless paintings by such 17th Century masters as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Steen. The Museum has over 1 million objects in its collection, of which approximately 8,000 are currently on display.

Rembrandt’s masterwork, The Night Watch (1642} is the focal point of an entire gallery of masterpieces.

One of Rembrandt’s works that may be very familiar to Americans of my generation has been the package trademark for Dutch Masters Cigars since 1912.

The gentlemen in the painting are not discussing the finer points of a cigar’s “predominantly tobacco with non-tobacco ingredients”, but rather are a group of merchants evaluating cloth. Thus, the title of this 1662 masterwork is, “Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild”.

Of course, there are other eye popping pieces from other periods as well.

The current museum building itself is a work of remarkable architecture. It was designed by Pierre Cuypers and built in 1885. It is one of the centerpieces that define this beautiful city.

I learned today that while we were touring the Rijksmuseum yesterday, another Camino friend from 2013 was there as well. Had we only known… Damn the bad luck that prevented us from meeting!!!

Amsterdam is perhaps the most culturally open place that I have ever visited. By my measure, the people of Amsterdam are friendly, polite, and English of a very high order is spoken throughout the city. Yes, there is the “Red Light District”, and yes the odor of burning marijuana may be encountered, but the city is safe, clean, steeped in history, and exceptionally charming.

One who is more concerned with the way that others live life than how he conducts his own should probably pass on visiting here. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Peace Everyone. Pete

We leave for Brussels Belgium tomorrow and will be visiting a young lady that we have maintained overseas contact with since 1991.

On a somber note, a stroll by the home of Anne Frank, or a casual glance to the pavement provide reminders of the darker side of a history that touched these good people.